DNV GL surveyors have conducted the classification society’s first offshore UAS survey.

The survey was conducted in the North Sea, on the semisubmersible vessel Safe Scandinavia, which supports Statoil’s drilling operations off the coast of Norway.

As a part of the intermediate survey, DNV GL’s UAS pilots checked Safe Scandinavia’s fairleads and their connection with the vessel’s two columns.

“This was a great opportunity for us to demonstrate our drones’ abilities to check the condition of remote external components in challenging offshore conditions,” says Cezary Galinski, Project Manager Classification Poland at DNV GL.

“The inspection only required the semi-submersible to de-ballast, then we flew the drone approximately 25 meters below the main deck to check the condition of the fairleads and their connections to the columns that hold up the TSV. With wind speeds of approximately 15 knots, this went very well and the survey showed that the fairleads and their connections were in a good condition.”

Safe Scandinavia is a tender support vessel (TSV) that is owned and operated by Prosafe, the world's leading owner/operator of semi-submersible accommodation vessels.

Ian Young, Chief Operating Officer at Prosafe, says, “we are very pleased that we chose to try the drone survey, as it helped us optimize our survey requirements and allowed us to save significant amounts of time and money.”

“Normally, this kind of operation would cause disruption to our client for several days. The drone survey took only a few hours and was just as effective.”

The classification society has conducted several UAS surveys on both ships and offshore units. During these surveys, it has inspected various areas on board including tanks and cargo holds, as well as external structures like jack-up legs.

Inspecting spaces such as these can be costly, time consuming, and in some cases, dangerous, but using UAS to visually check the condition of remote structural components can reduce staging costs and survey times, and improve surveyor safety as well.